(continued from Part 11) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Once a man has journeyed through the happy "prasAdana-parva" stage of life, he becomes ready to ascend the next higher stepping-stone -- viz. the "parianka" called "utkramanam", the 6th milestone in Desikan's 9-tiered "parama-pada-sOpAnam". This "utkramana" stage is reached when a man, either as "bhaktA" or "prapanna", is ready to shed his mortal coils. When the soul of such a man is ready to leave its earthly and decrepit body, it is said to be on the verge of the "utkramana". From this stage onwards the journey to 'parama-padam' can be undertaken only by the 'Atma' which quickly sheds its gross and physical body as so much unwanted "excess baggage". If we think about it deeply many of us actually do not fear Death so much as we fear the act of dying. We are filled with morbid anxiety whenever we even think of all the gruesome motions of dying that we must all, sooner or later, surely undergo. The fear is made worse when we recollect how, at some time or the other, a family-member of ours, or perhaps some friend or acquaintance, "give up the ghost", as they say. We remember vividly having watched the slow and agonizing process through which body and soul bade each other good-bye in the terminal moments of a person's time on earth. We know thus from our own first-hand experience that the act of dying is never at all a pleasant sight. It is, in fact, a very ugly and unseemly sight ("vikAram") and hence we can not really help feelings of great unease, if not real dread about it. In 6 powerfully evocative Tamil "pAsuram-s", the great Peria-AzhwAr in his "tirumOzhi" graphically portrayed precisely such dread which fills the heart of Man as it contemplates upon the indignity of dying: 372: seeyinaal seRindhERiya puNmEl*seRRalERik kuzhambirundhu* eNGgum- eeyinaal arippuNdu mayaNGgi*ellai vaay senRu sErvadhan munnam* vaayinaal n^amO n^aaraNaa venRu*maththahaththidaik kaihaLaik kooppi* pOyinaal pinnai iththisaikku enRum*piNaik kodukkilum pOhavottaarE. 2. 373: sOrvinaal poruL vaiththadhuNdaahil*sollu sollenRu suRRum irundhu* aarvinavilum vaaythiRavaadhE*andhakaalam adaivadhan munnam* maarvam enbadhOr_kOyil amaiththu*maadhavan ennum dheyvaththai n^aatti* aarvamenbadhOr poovidavallaarkku*aravathaNdaththil uyyalumaamE. 374: mEl ezhundhadhOr vaayuk kiLarndhu* mEl midaRRinai uLLezha vaaNGgi* kaalum kaiyum vidhir vidhirththERik*kaNNuRakkam adhaavadhan munnam* moolamaahiya oRRaiyezhuththai*moonRu maaththirai uLLezha vaaNGgi* vElaivaNNanai mEvudhiraahil*viNNahaththinil mEvalumaamE. 4. 375: madi vazhi vandhu n^eer pulan sOra*vaayilattiya kaNYchiyum meeNdE* kadai vazhi vaarak kaNdamadaippa* kaNNuRakkam adhaavadhan munnam* thodai vazhi ummai n^aayhaL kavaraa*soolaththaal ummaip paayvadhum seyyaar* idaivazhiyil n^eer kooRaiyum izhaveer*irudeekEsan enREththavalleerE. 5. 376: aNGgam vittavai aindhum ahaRRi*aavi mookkinil sOdhiththa pinnai* saNGgam vittavar_kaiyai maRiththu*paiyavE thalai saayppadhan munnam* vaNGgam vittulavum kadaRpaLLi maayanai*madhusoodhananai maarbil- thaNGga vittu vaiththu* aavadhOr karumam saadhippaarkku* enRum saadhikkalaamE. 379: vaayoru pakkam vaaNGgi valippa*vaarndha n^eerk kuzhik kaNkaL mizhaRRa* thaay oru pakkam thandhai oru pakkam*thaaramum oru pakkam alaRRa* thee Oru pakkam sErvadhan munnam* seNGgaNmaalodum sikkena suRRa- maay* oru pakkam n^iRka vallaarkku*arava thaNdaththil uyyalumaamE. In the above stanzas Peria-AzhwAr describes the physical act of dying in frighteningly familiar terms indeed! The dying body is covered with pus-filled sores on which flies begin to forage... the limbs go into paralytic seizures... Breathing turns hoarse, eyes roll out of their sockets even as the mouth begins to foam. And while the spouse or parent wails and beat the breasts in grief, other kith and kin standing huddled in silence around the dying body can only mutter to themselves, "Now that this fellow is nearly gone, wonder how much of his ill-gotten wealth he has left me in his will..." ******** ********* ********* The reasonable question that now squarely faces the man of "bhakti" (or "prappati") on the journey up to "parama-padam" on Swamy Desikan's "vEdAnta-mArga" is this: Do I too have to undergo this painful and dreadful "vikAram" of death? After all these years of "bhakti" I have shown towards God (or, after having absolutely surrendered to Him in "saranAgati") will He consign me in my last moments on earth to suffer the same indignity of death that I have seen so many others before me in this world undergo? (to be continued) dAsan, Sudarshan __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site http://webhosting.yahoo.com/
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